Learning Acceleration Guide: A Compilation of Learning Acceleration Principles and Practices in New Jersey. Updated

To be more responsive to students' needs, many local education agencies (LEAs) are creating extended and summer learning opportunities to facilitate learning acceleration. Many LEAs elected to leverage federal funds to create opportunities that increase the time students spend engaged in safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments, particularly for students most impacted by disruptions in learning due to the pandemic. LEAs may be tempted to revisit the entirety of the previous year's content for fear that it was not mastered by students. However, approaches that result in wholesale remediation or pull-out interventions can isolate students and impede their access to engaging in grade-level content. This could lead to the most vulnerable students falling further behind their peers who have consistent, uninterrupted opportunities to proceed with grade-level work (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020; Council of the Great City Schools, 2020). The "Learning Acceleration Guide" summarizes the developing base of literature on learning acceleration approaches and shares promising practices from New Jersey schools. It has been crafted for LEA administrators with the goal of helping teachers, support staff, families, and students emerge from these unprecedented times and start the new school year stronger than ever. LEA leaders are encouraged to consider these strategies as they plan for the 2021-2022 school year. It has been developed using principles derived from the Council of the Great City Schools resource entitled "Addressing Unfinished Learning after COVID-19 School Closures." The resource has been adapted for New Jersey schools and intended to complement resources being released by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and various other organizations, including Student Achievement Partners (SAP), the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the United States Department of Education that also address the challenges of prioritizing instruction, accelerating learning, and meeting the social-emotional and mental health needs of students. The common messages found across these materials illustrate a consensus in the field around the importance of safeguarding educational equity and access in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. [For the guide, "Addressing Unfinished Learning after COVID-19 School Closures," see ED615351. The guide was originally released in June 2021.]